Jean François Senault - De l’usage des passions - 1641

A superb antique work from the 17th century in pocket format (about 13 × 7.5 cm), titled De l’Usage des Passions, attributed to Reverend Father Jean-François Senault, Priest of the Oratory. A small volume that is very appealing, typical of devotional and moral books printed in Paris in the Grand Siècle, here preserved in a full leather period binding nicely patinated.

The copy features an engraved frontispiece (very expressive and decorative) that opens the volume. The printed title page is not present: the frontispiece thus serves as the opening page. There is then a dedication to Cardinal Duke of Richelieu (“To His Eminence the Most Eminent Cardinal Duke of Richelieu”), as well as a table of the treatises and discourses, bearing witness to a methodical construction (parts / treatises / discourses) around the central theme: to understand human passions, to govern them, and to make use of them in a moral and spiritual sense.

About the author: Jean-François Senault

Jean-François Senault (1599–1672) is an important figure in seventeenth-century French spirituality. An Oratorian (Congregation of the Oratory), a preacher and moralist, he is part of this intellectual and religious current that seeks to analyze man with precision: his impulses, his weaknesses, his desires, his anger, his fear... His writing aims at a double objective: to finely describe the mechanism of the passions and to propose an inner discipline to steer them toward virtue. His work gained real diffusion in his time, and De l’Usage des Passions remains one of his most representative and most sought-after texts.

Edition / dating
• Date mentioned: 1641 (internal note visible: “in Paris on 26 March 1641”).
• Pagination: 440 pages (as indicated by the count).
• Language: French.

binding
• Full leather from the period (brown calf), attractive patina.
• Ribbed spine, gilt decoration, title piece: “The Use of Passions”.
• Yellow bands (old tint).

State

Book in generally good condition for a 1641 edition:
Wear and rubbing on the binding, worn corners, headcaps and joints to monitor (old).
• Old paper with foxing spots and signs of aging.
• Presence of an old restoration mark (noted).
• Title page missing, but an engraved frontispiece is present.
• Some annotations/old writings visible on certain pages.

A genuine seventeenth-century book, complete in its spirit (frontispiece + dedication to Richelieu + table of contents + text), in an period binding, and above all an emblematic title by Senault, at the crossroads of morality, the psychology of passions, and the spirituality of the Grand Siècle. A very beautiful collectible object, decorative and historically speaking.

The last photo, featuring the author's engraving, is not part of the lot.

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